People on Sheares Bridge in front of the two durians bidding farewell to LKY. It was a very wet day.

4/26/2012

Which country is threatening freedom of navigation?

The US has been telling the world that China is threatening freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Where is the evidence? Is China preventing any country from using the sea lanes, or is China arresting the fishing boats and fishermen in the South China Sea? Only countries that go around using their naval warships to harass and arrest ships and fishing boats are the ones that threaten freedom of navigations.

The Philippines have been doing it all the time, arresting Chinese fishing boats and fishermen. The latest incident which some called it a stand off, the Philippines were again at it, trying to bully Chinese fishermen with their biggest piece of floating antique. My apologies, they called it their biggest warship. The Chinese had to send in their civilian surveillance ships to stop them from doing it. Was it a stand off? Far from it. It was like an old hag waving his fist at some grown up men and thinking he would frighten them off. It was a mismatch in all counts.

The main point is that the real countries that are threatening freedom of navigation and raising tension in the South China Sea are the little pesky countries and their master pulling the strings from behind. Freedom of navigation in the region has never been an issue until the little pests start to throw their weights around, arresting Chinese fishermen. And they have to be kicked in the butt to stop them from being a nuisance to everyone in the region. These are the real trouble makers. And there is the international gangster from afar plonking his warships here in the name of peace but instigating war.

Wait till Chinese or Russian or other country's warships appear around Caribbean Sea to see what the world bully has to say.

It is in fact good that let this world bully continue to maintain its global defence (offence) budget to be the unwanted world police because all these will drain off its economic growth and will surely lead to rapid decline. Chinese should be smart not to weigh wars but fight the economic and cultural wars with this world bully. Chinese communist government must know how to reform, open up and change to a modern democratic country to be strong in economy and naturally military but do not focus too heavily on military spendings like the world bully. The world bully's foreign policy is unsustainable.

The Vietnamese have a very long historical hatred against the Chinese because of Chinese ruled. Looking at natural geography, the Vietnamese, Manchus, Koreans, Hainanese, Mongolians etc at the peripheral of the block of Asiatic mongoloid race could easily be a racial block of people with many similarities. The Vietnamese language and those of Hainanese and other Chinese dialects away from the centre of the Han Chinese are distinctly different yet have many commonality.

They fought to break away to become a different people and country. So be it. But the Vietnamese could not forget the centuries of being part of the Chinese Empire and ruled by the Chinese.

Despite the huge sacrifices made by the Chinese to help them fight against the Americans, they would find every opportunity to bite the Chinese. If they cannot let go of this hatred, they will have to live with it as a painful memory bugging them everyday.

Many countries and people had even worst historical experience and had come to terms with it. You are right that the Vietnamese would never be happy with anything Chinese.

No red blooded Singaporean will ever give a shit about offending other "lowly" Asian cuntrees like Vietnam. When those shit-bowls can "bring it" like my dear Hotel Singapore, then they can talk. At the moment they are still shitting in holes, and living in hovels for the most part.

Vietnam is another cuntry the US has to defend...again many a US warrior has shot both bullets and sperm at/ into Vietnam nationals.

As it is stated, the distaste of China-centricity is a cultural and historical artifact of Vietnam.

In fact, in Asia many small states have a historical distrust, hatred or issue with China, and they all are dropping their balls because of China's rise to global dominance.

Beijing's response to the Manila-instigated standoff at Huangyan Island in the South China Sea has remained restrained and rational. As a responsible power, China has approached the dispute with the overall picture of Sino-Philippine ties and the stability of the region in mind.

However, in contrast to Beijing's restraint, Manila has continued with its provocative words and actions.

After China withdrew two of its maritime surveillance vessels from the area on Sunday to de-escalate the situation, the Philippines' response was to send more vessels to the island waters.

Recent remarks from Philippine officials have only added more fuel to the fire. During his visit to the United States on Monday, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Albert del Rosario said China is a national threat in the South China Sea and the Philippines should stand up to it.

As his country's top diplomat, Rosario should feel ashamed for uttering such irresponsible words. He should be reminded that it is his own country that started the current standoff.

He also quoted ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu's The Art of War on April 14, saying the Philippines should "know when and how to fight". Rosario would do better to reflect on philosopher Mencius words: "A just cause enjoys abundant support, while an unjust cause finds little."

In fact, Manila has violated the agreements reached between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China on solving the disputes bilaterally and in peace. It constantly seeks to stir up waves in the South China Sea and has tried hard, though to little avail, to sow differences between ASEAN and China.

Many in China are beginning to lose patience as the face-off continues into its third week and some are calling for more resolute moves to punish Manila and defend the country's maritime territory.

On Thursday the Ministry of Defense said the Chinese military will work with fishery and maritime authorities to jointly safeguard the country's maritime territorial integrity.

Whether tensions over the stand-off at the Huangyan Island escalate further depends to a large extent on how Manila acts next.

If Manila continues to ignore this country's repeated offer of and appeal for peaceful dialogue, it should not count on eternal Chinese restraint.

As Sun Tzu pointed out nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for an advantageous position, and in trying to do so in the South China Sea, the Philippines is only getting itself into hot water.

BEIJING - The Philippines' sovereignty claim over Huangyan Island is "illegal" and against basic principles of international relations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said here Friday.

"The Philippines has once clearly stated that Huangyan Island in the South China Sea is not part of its territory, but now it swallowed its words and raised illegal territory claim over an island which belongs to China," Liu said at a regular press briefing.

"Such a claim runs against the basic principles of international relations, which require respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said when asked to comment on Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario's recent accusations against China over the issue.

The recent incident at Huangyan Island was triggered by a Philippine warship violent harassment of Chinese fishermen, and concerns China's sovereignty, according to Liu.

The Philippines should respect China's sovereignty, avoid actions which would scale up and complicate the situation so as to resume peace and order in the waters around the island, the spokesman added.

Some media reports have said the Philippines has issued notice to China on its readiness to raise the sovereignty of Huangyan Island to international arbitration.

"What a world it would be if a country could, at its own will, raise another country's territory to international arbitration," Liu said, stressing the Huangyan Island is inherent territory of China.southernglory1

southernglory1 2012-04-29 09:26 In the last over hundred years or so from the 1830s to 1940s when China was weak the Western Imperialists, Russian Imperialists and Japanese Imperialists grabbed Chinese lands freely at will and with impunity.Russia is still holding a few million square miles of Chinese lands in the north of China. Russia's latest treachery was detaching Outer Mongolia from China under a false plesbicite in 1946 and cutting off Tannu Tuva from Outer Mongolia before annexing it to Russia. Japan is still holding Liu Chiu Tao which it grabbed from China in 1875 and renamed it Okinawa. India inherited from British Imperialist a big chunk of Chinese land in South - west China. Now white American imperialists - the Evil Empire is instigating its minions like Phillipines and ungrateful rats the Vietnamese to create trouble for China in the South China Seas with the intention of containing China.

China must not lose any further inch of land to aggressors whether big or small. China must continue to improve and upgrade her military might in all fields and aspects in order to deter foreign aggression especially the evil White Americans.

Why this ad?Norwegian Cruise Deals - www.starcruises.com/ncl - 7 Day Hawaii Inter-Island Cruise Book Today & Enjoy Special Savings!Illegal claims by Pinois and other littoral states against Chinese territories and territorial seas in the South China SeaInbox xEng Lam Yeo

2:32 PM (1 minute ago)

to meThe Pinois would not be so daring as to confront China in its falseand illegal claim against China on Chinese islands. islets andterritorial seas in the South Chjina Sea had it not been for the wellknown international Mafia gang leader - the Evil Empire, USA pushingit from behind the veil screen. Where were the Pinois and theVietnamese when Chinese sailors were sailing the high seas and oceansin the world's largest ships across continents for milleniums in thepast. Even in modern times when Vietnam was under France and thePhilippines were under the white Americans they and their colonialmasters had never contest against sovereignty and ownership of all theislands, islets and territorial seas in the South China Sea. It wasafter the discovery of oil and other resources in this area and thefall out between China and the West especially the Evil Empire - USAthat the Mafia Leader - USA - instigated Vietnamese and the Pinois toillegally contest Chinese ownership and sovereignty of South Chia Seaand its islands especially the Spratleys and Paracel Islands. Beforethe Korean War all western maps and atlases clearly indicated that theSpratley Islands and the Paracel Islands belong to China. And evenMalaysia's claim is not only illegal but the uttermost sham. Malayawas not even a country in every aspect of the term before the late1880s but a cluster of separate territories controlled by Indonesiapirates or village chieftains. These separate territories were laterheld together under British Colonial rule as federated Britishcolonial settlements. Malaysia was conceived only in 1965 to forestallSarawak and Sabah from being occupied by Indonesia. Therefore how comethe present government of present Malaysia can so shamelessly followto join in the senseless claim of Chinese sovereign territories. Is itbecause they are trying their luck under the edging of theinternational gang leader - the Evil Empire, USA. Even imperialFrance, England and America had never dared to lay claim on theseChinese sovereign seas and islands before.

China must be firm with these littoral parasites and not allow them totrample on Chinese lands and seas just because they have the backingof the international gang leader, the white Americans.

The Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island) does belong to China which discovered it and drew it in a map as early as 1279 during the Yuan Dynasty. Chinese fishermen, from both the Mainland and Taiwan, have since used it. As a matter of fact, Guo Shoujing, (the Chinese astronomer, engineer and mathematician who worked under the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan) performed surveying of the South China Sea, and the surveying point was the Scarborough Shoal which is considered part of the Zhongsha Islands (renamed Huangyan Island in 1983).

By contrast, the "old maps" being relied upon by our Department of Foreign Affairs in its spurious claim on the same territory were drawn up only in 1820, or 541 years after China's. I am surprised that Senator Edgardo Angara - supposedly a renowned lawyer - can claim that a map drawn 5 centuries and 4 decades after, takes precedence over the much earlier map of China.

But I am all the more astonished that Fr. Joaquin Bernas, in his April 22 article in another newspaper, being one of the main framers of the 1987 Constitution, uses the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as his basis to defend the Philippine claim. This, despite and after acknowledging the fact that, indeed, "the Scarborough Shoal is OUTSIDE THE LIMITS set by the Treaty of Paris for Philippine territory." What kind of double-speak is that?

So, what exactly was the territory we declared independence from the US in 1946? Why is it that NONE of our constitutions, past and present, from 1899, 1935, 1943, 1973, 1986 and 1987, include either the Spratlys or the Scarborough Shoal within our declared national territory? Where, or from whom, did we, all of a sudden, acquire title to these? Out of thin air?

In the late 1970s, China organized many scientific expeditions in the Shoal and around that area. In fact, in 1980, a stone marker reading "South China Sea Scientific Expedition" was installed by China on the South Rock. This Chinese marker was removed, without authority, by the Philippines in 1997.

All official maps published by the Philippines until the 1990s excluded both the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal from its territorial boundaries. Our own Republic Act No. 3046, passed by our Congress and approved in 1961, stopped us from our claim. Yet, we had the temerity to amend this law on March 10, 2009, after 48 long years, to unilaterally include the disputed territories.

But what takes the cake is the fact that China holds three international treaties in support of its claim over the territories in question—namely, the 1898 Treaty of Paris between the US and Spain, the 1900 Treaty of Washington between Spain and the US, and the 1930 Treaty between Great Britain and the US, all limiting Philippine territorial limits to the 118th degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich.

On the other hand, the basis of the Philippine claim is restricted to proximity, relying solely on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. As far as I know, a mere "convention" cannot overturn or supersede a treaty or an agreement reached between colonial powers. And even if it were considered a "law", it cannot be made to take effect retroactively.

Hi Anon 7:34, The Vietnamese have a very long historical hatred against the Chinese because of Chinese ruled. Looking at natural geography, the Vietnamese, Manchus, Koreans, Hainanese, Mongolians etc at the peripheral of the block of Asiatic mongoloid race could easily be a racial block of people with many similarities. The Vietnamese language and those of Hainanese and other Chinese dialects away from the centre of the Han Chinese are distinctly different yet have many commonality. They fought to break away to become a different people and country. So be it. But the Vietnamese could not forget the centuries of being part of the Chinese Empire and ruled by the Chinese. Despite the huge sacrifices made by the Chinese to help them fight against the Americans, they would find every opportunity to bite the Chinese. If they cannot let go of this hatred, they will have to live with it as a painful memory bugging them everyday. Many countries and people had even worst historical experience and had come to terms with it. You are right that the Vietnamese would never be happy with anything Chinese.

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